GoDaddy Website Builder Review 2024

GoDaddy is well known for its domain registration and hosting services, but it also has its own website builder that lets you create a website from the ground up. GoDaddy’s site builder is an all-in-one solution that includes web hosting and a website design editor.

Forbes Advisor recently included GoDaddy on its list of 10 best website builders. GoDaddy compares favourably with other platforms, such as Wix and Squarespace.

Intuitive site-building tools make GoDaddy one of the easiest-to-use site builders available today. This means GoDaddy is an excellent tool for beginners and those with limited or no coding or design skills.

To create your website, simply answer a few questions, and GoDaddy’s Artificial Design Intelligence editor generates an initial site design that you can customize. If you prefer, you can create your website by selecting one of GoDaddy’s 100+ design templates, and then use the drag-and-drop editor to tailor your site design to suit your needs.

GoDaddy offers a free plan with limited features, such as a GoDaddy-branded site and domain. There are four paid plans that all come with a free SSL certificate, custom domain connection, analytics and 24/7 support. Here are the top features included in GoDaddy’s paid plans:

The GoDaddy website builder offers a variety of tools and attributes that help you create a powerful online presence. Here are a few of the most in-demand features and benefits you get with GoDaddy:

• Accept payments. With the E-commerce plan, you can process payments via GoDaddy Payments or through a variety of other payment processors, including PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Venmo.
• Blog. Add a blog to your GoDaddy website; the builder comes with popular blogging features like category management and blog commenting.
• Email marketing. All paid plans include the ability to send emails directly from the GoDaddy dashboard, though send volumes vary significantly by plan (100 to 25,000 emails allowed per month).
• Appointment/Service scheduling app. All paid plans include a free appointment scheduling app, though you’ll have to upgrade to the Premium or E-commerce plan for advanced features, such as recurring appointments, group events, appointment email reminders and appointment payments.
• 24/7 customer support. Get round-the-clock support via chat, phone and the GoDaddy online Help Centre.
• Sell digital and physical products. On the E-commerce plan, you can sell both physical and digital products.
• Digital marketing suite. Starting at an additional $13.41 CAD per month on top of your plan fee, access GoDaddy’s suite of marketing tools, including branded content creation, social media management, search engine optimization, expanded email marketing, paid search and social and email analytics.
• Unlimited storage and bandwidth. There’s no limit on file storage or bandwidth for your GoDaddy website.
• Website design services. GoDaddy offers custom website design; you must contact the company directly for a free consultation and pricing information for these services.
• Hardware options. If you have a physical store or need to process in-person payments, GoDaddy offers both a card reader and a full POS system.

There are many strong reasons to go with GoDaddy but, like all platforms, GoDaddy has some drawbacks too. Before choosing a website builder, make sure you understand what it can and can’t do for you.

Limited Design Customization

The good news is that you have access to more than 100 attractive website design templates with GoDaddy. The not-so-good news is that these templates are relatively rigid and offer limited fonts and layout adjustments. This means the GoDaddy website builder isn’t a terrific solution for those who prefer more control over website design.

No Website Transfer

You can build a WordPress website with GoDaddy hosting and transfer your site to another hosting provider. If you build your site with the GoDaddy website builder, you cannot move your site to another hosting service.

Limited App Integrations

Most website builders integrate with hundreds if not thousands of apps, which allows for significant freedom in terms of expanding website features and functionality. GoDaddy does not have an app store, and a deep dive into its Help Centre did not reveal which integrations are available. With fewer app integrations, your GoDaddy website might not be able to accommodate the specialized features that other platforms offer.

SEO Is Limited

GoDaddy offers an SEO Wizard on its top three paid plans. The Wizard helps you with SEO by asking questions about who your customers/readers are, the geography you serve and what your page is about. The tool then suggests keywords and guides you in creating optimized titles, headlines and page descriptions. These steps are helpful in SEO but barely touch the surface of complete site optimization.

The GoDaddy SEO Wizard may lead some, especially beginners, into a false sense of security that their sites are optimized. We recommend you build your SEO know-how without solely depending on GoDaddy, as no site builder will fully optimize your site for you.

Both GoDaddy and Wix offer free plans with limited features. At $11.99 CAD per month, GoDaddy’s basic plan is cheaper than the Wix and Squarespace basic plans, which are $15 CAD and $16 USD ($21.49 CAD) per month, respectively. When it comes to e-commerce, all platforms’ fees are similar. The GoDaddy e-commerce plan is $19.99 CAD per month, while the Squarespace Basic Commerce plan is $27 USD ($36.26 CAD), and Wix basic e-commerce plan is $28 CAD per month.

GoDaddy offers considerably fewer templates than Wix. Also, while GoDaddy templates are clean and functional, they lack the style and flair offered via Squarespace templates. GoDaddy offers free appointment scheduling and limited email marketing with all its plans; with Wix and Squarespace, you’ll incur an upcharge for these features.

The GoDaddy website builder is an intuitive tool that lets you quickly build a website. GoDaddy provides you with everything you need within its platform. This all-in-one functionality means you won’t have to fuss with finding external plugins or hosting services.

Created with beginners in mind, the GoDaddy builder is excellent for anyone with limited technical and design experience. The platform lets you incorporate the most in-demand features on your website, including email capture and communication, social media integration, blogging and e-commerce functionality. Plan fees are relatively modest, which means GoDaddy can accommodate nearly any budget.

Canadian specific editing and research (including pricing) conducted by Anna Rey.

Related: How To Build A Website On GoDaddy